New Network Forms to Promote EMV for Debit

CO-OP Financial Services, SHAZAM and eight other debit network providers have formed an association to create a common debit chip solution to maintain an open and competitive debit network marketplace.

The Debit Network Alliance will work to ensure equal access to EMV chip technology under terms supporting competition, network choice, innovation, and delivery of value to network participants; promote shared governance of common debit AIDs, including how the underlying technology is configured on the chip and the terminal, and

build support for all CVMs, both existing and future, as well as access to technology that supports future innovation.

“The formation of the Debit Network Alliance is a continuation of the great cooperation that the founding networks have had since coming together in April 2012. We believe that debit chip solutions in the U.S. must be governed by all U.S. debit networks, in a manner that benefits industry stakeholders and supports the levels of flexibility and innovation necessary to maintain a healthy and robust U.S. payment system,” said

Paul Tomasofsky, Executive Director of Debit Network Alliance. “The Debit Network Alliance is ready to work with all payment networks to define business terms, technical requirements and legal agreements required for industry stakeholders to realize the benefits of a single, common standard. Once these are in place, the industry can truly move forward with EMV in the U.S.”

In addition to CO-OP and SHAZAM, the other eight networks include AFFN, ATH, NETS, NYCE, Presto!, PULSE and STAR.

“Formation of the Debit Network Alliance further advances a common U.S. debit AID (application identifier) and its harmonized profiles and parameters,” commented Stan Hollen, CEO of CO-OP Financial Services. “This is extremely important to credit unions because it preserves their routing and network choices in connection with the emerging EMV standard. As one of 10 founders of the Debit Network Alliance, CO-OP has actively represented the interests of credit unions, and we will continue to help drive the next steps, both in governance and deployment, of the common U.S. debit AID.

“While the common U.S. debit AID provides interoperable adoption of chip and PIN debit payments to the entire industry, this will still take time, particularly in light of the recent judicial proceedings concerning the Durbin Amendment,” Hollen added. “CO-OP encourages all PIN debit network providers to join Debit Network Alliance in order to move the industry forward in a collaborative, standardized way.”

“The formation of DNA represents a significant investment by the country's leading debit networks. As a founding member of the new company, SHAZAM was been honored to have a strong voice in the creation of a structure for the governance, deployment and implementation of the EMV debit standard,” said Terry Dooley, senior vice president and chief information officer at SHAZAM. “My colleagues and I are ready to put in the work to ensure the country's eventual implementation of EMV provides issuer choice, merchant choice, a competitive environment and the ability to continue a long history of innovative product development for the payments industry.”